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motorsportbarbie13 · 3 months ago

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Post It - Part 9 - LN4

when lando stumbles upon a random tiktok of a pretty american influencer, he can't stop himself from sliding into her DMs. what happens next is more than both of them ever bargained for.

warnings: none notes: HERE WE ARE MY LOVES. Another series in the books. I hope you liked this one as much as I loved writing it. as always, an extra special shoutout to @lestapiastrisgirl for listening to me whine and complaine and brainstorm at 2am. pairing: lando norris x influencer!reader word count: 3.8k words

|| - Part 1 || - Part 2 || - Part 3 || - Part 4 || - Part 5 || - Part 6 || -Part 7 || Part 8 || Master List

“Are you absolutely sure this is ready?” You ask nervously.

You watch Lando’s eyes flick between the laptop screen and your face, searching for any sign of doubt or deception.

“Baby, it’s perfect.” He assures you, leaning over to press a kiss to your temple. “Just trust me, okay? Post it.”

You were perched on the edge of his hotel bed in Montreal, the lingering jet leg a dull ache in your bones. The past few weeks had been a whirlwind, a chaotic blend of professional obligations and personal turmoil. After Spain, Lando had flown halfway around the world, joining you in New Zealand, where you’d been shooting content for Pretty Little Lens.

Your absence at the race in Spain had fueled a firestorm of speculation. Social media had exploded with rumors of a breakup, painting you as a home wrecker and Lando as a cheater. Despite McLaren’s legal action against Allegra and TMZ, the narrative had taken hold, fueled by the internet’s insatiable appetite for drama.

Lando’s suggestion of a week long, off-the-grid escape to Fiji had been a lifeline. It had been a chance to breathe, a chance for you and Lando to reconnect after a few weeks apart and the chaos that had been Monaco. And the vlog? The vlog was a chance to remind yourselves - and the world- of the truth behind the rumors and lies.

And now, here you were, the night before media day ahead of the Montreal Grand Prix, about the release a vlog that was as much a declaration as it was a travel diary.

“Mid-Season Trip to Fiji with Lan” the title declared, a bold statement against the tide of speculation. The vlog was a raw, unfiltered glimpse into the private moments of your relationship. Editing it had been so cathartic, a way to reclaim the narrative, to show the world that you were still together and still going strong.

“This might be your best work yet.” Lando murmurs, voice laced with genuine admiration. He nudges your shoulder playfully.

You roll your eyes, a smile tugging at the corner of your lips. “Only because you’re the star of the entire thing.”

“I can’t help it if the camera loves me.” He retorts, his eyes twinkling with mischief. “Come on, post it. Let’s watch the world explode.”

You take a deep breath, your finger hovering over the ‘post’ button. This was it, the moment of truth. “Here goes nothing.” You whisper, the click of the trackpad echoing in the quiet room.

The vlog flickers to life, the slightly shaky handheld footage immediately drawing the viewer in. Lando’s voice, warm and laced with playful anticipation pours from the speakers. “Alright, chat, she thinks my flight is delayed in Shanghai. Little does she know, I’m already here.”

The camera pans across the bustling terminal, a sea of faces blurring past. Lando’s excitement was palpable, radiating through the screen. “She’s not expecting me for hours so I’m on my way to find her.” He chuckles, a mischievous glint in his eye as he looks directly into the camera.

The footage cuts to a shot of you, sitting in a chair, posture a mix of weary patience and slight annoyance, your attention fixed on your phone. You look a little tired, a little worn, but still undeniable pretty in Lando’s eyes. Lando’s voice softens, a note of tenderness creeping in as he talks to the camera. “There she is.” He murmurs and you can hear the awe in his voice as he stands for a moment just watching you. “Looking a little less than thrilled about my supposed delay.”

The camera shakes a bit as Lando starts to move, footsteps thumping against the tiled floor of the terminal. You remain oblivious until he’s standing right in front of you. The camera is fixed on your face as he chuckles lightly. “Is this seat taken, pretty girl?”

You lift your eyes and at first they’re guarded, thinking some random man is hitting on you but then it clicks and you see the recognition flicker across your face. Your eyes widen, expression shifting from annoyance to stunned disbelief. “Lando!” You cry. You launch yourself up and out of the chair and into his arms. The video shakes then and you lose sight of anything other than the ground but you can hear, just off camera, the sounds of your laughter mixing with Lando’s. The frame spins as Lando lifts you off your feet and twirls you around before he sets you down again, pressing a kiss onto your lips.

“You’re here!” You exclaim. “I thought your flight was delayed.”

“Nope.” He can’t wipe the grin off his face at the look of utter delight that crosses yours. The camera sways slightly again as you wrap your arms around his neck. “Surprise!”

The footage was raw, unedited, and a chaotic whirlwind of emotion. Your unguarded giggles, his laughter, the sheer unadulterated joy of your reunion. It was all there, unfiltered and real.

“You jerk!” You exclaim, swatting at his muscled bicep. “I was so worried the jet wouldn’t be able to take off so late and we’d be stuck here overnight.”

“The look on your face was worth it though.” He replies, voice thick with emotion, his eyes fixed on yours. “So worth it.”

The camera zooms in on your face, capturing the intensity of your gaze, the unspoken words hanging in the air. The footage was intimate, vulnerable, a glimpse into a private moment made very public.

You shake your head. “I love you.”

Lando drops a kiss onto your nose before repositioning the camera so you’re both in the frame. “I love you too, pretty girl.”

Then, the camera cuts again, the scene shifting to a shot of you and Lando walking hand in hand through the airport towards the other terminal where your private jet will take you to the island that you’ll call home for the next week and a half before it fades to black before cutting to the next scene.

The next scene opens with you sitting at a vanity, the golden light of the Fijian sunset filtering warmly through the gauzy curtains to your left. The camera is set up so it has a good shot of you sitting in front of the mirror, framing the way you’re positively glowing with excitement.

“Alright guys.” You begin, addressing the camera with a bright smile. “Lets have a quick chat as I get ready for dinner.”

You stand up for a brief moment, twirling for the camera. “Here’s the ‘fit for tonight” The fabric of the long floral maxi dress you have on flutters out at your sides. When you sit back down, one of the thin spaghetti straps slips off your already tan shoulders. “Lan is being very mysterious about tonight.” You explain, a hint of amusement sparkling in your eyes. “He told me to dress ‘island chic’, whatever that means. I think the concierge told him to use those words. And to be ready by sunset. Which, by the way,” You grab the camera before padding over to the glass sliding door to behind you, showing off the vibrant hues painting the sky, “is happening right now. Oops!”

You sit back down at the vanity, setting the camera back where it was able to get a good shot of you and continue to chat as you apply your foundation. “We’ve had an amazing time so far.” You continue happily, unable to keep the giddy grin off of your face. Yesterday, we hired a guide to take us to these hidden waterfalls, which were absolutely breathtaking. And today,” You pause, biting your lip to keep from laughing, a playful grin spreading across your face, “we went horseback riding along the beach. Which was…interesting to say the least.” You chuckle as you begin to apply a shimmery eyeshadow to one of your eyelids. “Because apparently while my boyfriend is a surprisingly good rider, he’s also terrified of horses.”

Off camera, Lando’s voice echoes with mock indignation. “Hey! That horse was clearly out to get you! I probably saved your life.”

You turn towards the camera, giving the audience a deadpan shot of you rolling your eyes while shaking your head and mouthing ‘nope’ before you call back, “Sure, babe! Whatever you say!” You swipe a thin coat of lipstick across your lips before touching it up with a bit of gloss. “Anyway, tonights dinner is a total mystery. He wouldn’t give me any hints, just saying it was ‘special’.

You pause, biting at the inside of your cheek in an attempt to hide a smile. “Honestly though, this entire trip has been special.” You continue softly. “It’s been nice to just disconnect. To get away from all the drama and noise.” You glance at the camera, smily softening a bit more. “To just be us.”

With a shrug, you go back to applying your makeup, a final touch of blush completing the look. Just as you finish with some setting spray, the door behind you creaks open and Lando steps into the room. He’s dressed in a crisp tan linen shirt, the top most buttons undone, revealing a hint of tanned chest and a glimpse of a gold chain around his neck. His hair is damp and tousled, a few curls falling across his forehead.

“Ready?” He asks, his voice a low rumble as he comes to stand behind you.

You grab your camera and stand, assessing yourself in the mirror as Lando’s arms circle your waist before he drops his chin onto your shoulder, his eyes roaming over your reflection. The camera catches him blatantly checking you out and you blush when he presses his lips to your bare shoulder.

“Just finished. Are you going to tell me where we’re going now?”

Lando shakes his head before looking into the mirror so he’s making eye contact with the camera. “Nope. That is still a surprise. But I promise, it’s going to be a good night.”

And just like that, the screen goes black again.

When the video comes into focus again, the frame is focused in on overstuffed loveseat. Soft, golden lighting illuminates the scene: plush throw pillows are scattered haphazardly around the room, some of them spilling onto the floor, a blanket is draped over the back of the of the couch and a bowl of charred looking popcorn sits on the coffee table in the middle of the room.

“Alright, chat.” You say as you walk into the frame, satisfied with the angle your camera is pointing. “Movie night is off to a bit of a rocky start, but it’s fine. We can work with this, even if someone,” You pause, pulling a face before glancing over the top of the camera to where Lando stands, “burnt the popcorn and nearly burned the villa down.”

Lando groans as he steps into the frame, watching as you flop down on the couch, completely ignoring the popcorn bowl. “It was a tragic accident and I nearly died. I don’t know why you’re not more concerned about my well being.”

You roll your eyes. “Sometimes I swear my flair for the dramatic is rubbing off on you just a touch too much, my love.”

Lando pouts before sitting down next to you. He immediately pulls your legs into your lap, bare limbs still tanned and warm from the day spent laying out on the beach. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, I am the most level headed person I know.”

Arching an eyebrow your shift your gaze away from your boyfriend towards the camera in a move reminiscent of Jim from The Office. “Just call you Oscar Piastry then, huh?”

Lando nods, “Exactly. Besides, that microwave was clearly sabotaged in order to make me look bad.

“Sure, babe.” You retort, rolling your eyes at the camera. “Just like the time the microwave in your apartment burned the rice you set to cook for 12 minutes instead of two?”

“That was an entirely different situation and you know it!” Lando argues, voice rising in mock outrage. “That microwave was faulty.”

You dissolve into giggles, head tilting back, eyes closed. Lando just looks at you, soft smile on his lips as he watches you. The comments in the video will call out this moment as Lando giving you the goofiest heart eyes they’d ever seen, worse than when he does PR videos with Oscar for McLaren.

“Anyway,” You say once you’ve regained your composure, you turn back to the camera. “We’re trying to decide on a movie. We have several options but we’re having a slight disagreement.”

“Slight?” Lando interjects sarcastically and you nearly swat at his arm in response to the sass. “I want to watch Top Gun, classic action right? SHE,” He gestures towards you before rolling his eyes, “wants to watch a lame romantic comedy.”

“How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days is not lame, Lando Norris!” You cry, finally reaching over to swat his bicep. Lando looks towards the camera, mock hurt playing on his face as he shakes his hand, rubbing at the spot where you hit him. “It’s a cinematic masterpiece!”

“It’s a cheesy, predictable mess.” He counters, frown tipping down the corners of his lips.

“Oh please.” You scoff, “You secretly love romance movies. Don’t you remember what happened the first time we watched The Notebook? You cried for almost an hour after it ended! I nearly had to call Max to make sure I hadn’t broken you!”

Lando stares at you, mouth agape, cheeks flushing a bright pink. “You swore we’d never speak of that again!”

You lean forward then, kissing him on the cheek before running your hands through his hair. “I like that you’re in touch with your feelings.” You coo as Lando grins a bit, liking the attention you’re giving him.

“Fine.” Lando concedes, throwing up his hands in mock surrender. “Now that you’ve told the entire internet my deepest darkest secret, I guess we can watch a rom-com. But! If I’m going to be forced to watch something so lame, I get to choose which one it is.”

“Is that so?” You raise an eyebrow in challenge. “And which one do you want to watch?”

“Love Actually.” He declares dramatically.

You burst out laughing. “You’re kidding me, right?”

“I’m dead serious.” Lando insists unashamed. “It’s a classic!”

“It’s a Christmas movie!” You exclaim.

“It’s a timeless masterpiece!” He counters before grabbing a throw pillow and throwing it at you playfully. “And if you don’t agree, I’m just going to have to ask everyone on Instagram. They can have the final say.”

Your eyes narrow. “You wouldn’t dare.”

“Oh, I would.” Lando replies, grabbing his phone. “And they’ll side with me. They always do.”

You roll your eyes, but a smile tugs at the corner of your mouth. “Fine.” You concede. “But if we watch Love Actually, you’re taking me back to that little shop we were in earlier today and buying me those earrings I was looking at.”

“Deal.” Lando says, grinning triumphantly. “Now, let’s get this show on the road.” He grabs the remote, settling back into the sofa, a smug look on his face. You curl your body into his, your head resting on his shoulder while you tug a blanket up around your shoulders and over Lando’s lap.

The sound of the movie beginning is the last thing the audience sees before the scene fades to black once again.

The camera pans across an idyllic scene: crystal clear turquoise water lapping against a white sand beach, palm trees swaying gently in the breeze. Lando’s behind the camera now, a low chuckle cuts through the sounds of the beach. “Alright, chat. My girlfriend disappeared over an hour ago saying she was going to read for a bit in the hammock behind our villa here while I did some training. I’m trying not to be insulted she didn’t want to work out with me but she claims she had some fairy men to read about or something. I don’t know if I should be threatened or not, to be honest.” Lando flips the camera around and rolls his eyes. “But now I’m bored and I think it’s time we go find out where she’s hiding.”

The camera follows him as he walks across the back patio of the private villa he’d rented this week, lush greenery filling the frame. Sunlight filters through the leaves, creating dappled shadows across the lawn. In the distance, you can see a hammock swaying slightly in the breeze, tucked up against the edge of the beach between two palm trees. “There she is.” He whispers, turning the camera back around so you’re in the frame as he approaches.

The camera focuses on you, peacefully asleep with a large book laying across your chest. The sun catches the curve of our cheek, casting a golden glow over your tanned skin. You look so peaceful, totally content, a small smile playing on your lips as Lando approaches.

“God, she’s so pretty.” Lando muses as he gets closer, voice soft so he doesn’t startle you awake. “Honestly, I don’t know what I did to deserve her.” He flips the camera back towards him and grins, whispering conspiratorially, “She’s the most incredible woman I know. Funny, kind, wicked talented…and she puts up with me.” He laughs, shaking his head. “I’m the luckiest man in the world.”

Lando finally reaches the hammock, his footsteps light and careful not to disturb you. He watches you for a moment, the camera still on his face. The comments in the video later on will call out this moment hundreds of times. It’s the moment where people realize how wrong they were to believe anything Allegra had said. There was no denying that Lando was head over heels in love with you and had been for a long time after watching him watch you in that hammock that afternoon.

Carefully, he climbs into the hammock beside you, his movements slow and deliberate. You stir slightly, murmuring in your sleep. Lando gently brushes a stray strand of hair from your face as the camera catches the way his eyes are filled with a mixture of affection and awe. “You’re so beautiful.” He whispers, his voice so soft the video barely catches it.

He leans in, lips brushing against your forehead. You stir again, shifting so you’re on your side, snuggling deeper into him. You make a sound that is similar to a cat waking up from a long nap, a drawn out cooing noise that has the Lando pulling you even closer to him. Your legs tangle together, one leg hitching up and over his waist. He wraps his arms around you, the warmth of his body dragging you under into a deeper sleep.

“I don’t think I ever want to leave, chat. Do you think McLaren would care if I just quit right here and now?” He chuckles, shaking his head. “Just kidding, Zak!”

Lando smiles at the camera one last time, his eyes sparkling. “I think she likes it here too.” He observes happily. The camera focuses on the two of you, cuddled together in the hammock, your body curled into his. He gives the camera one last grin before moving his finger to switch it off, causing the scene to fade to black once again.

The last thing featured in the vlog had been Lando’s idea.

One after another, screenshots flashed by, slow enough to be read but fast enough to emphasize how many there were. Dozens of threatening texts, exchanges between Rich and Allegra, the texts that Lando had sent after meeting you.

Everything.

Dump her or else.

Hard launch me.

I’ll make something up.

You belong with me, you know that

Come back to me where you belong

It was never real

This was all fake

There’s someone else that I have real feelings for

Over and over the texts drift past and with every new message, the proof against Allegra mounts.

You knew it was going to be messy. You knew the fallout was going to be big but as you closed your laptop shut that night, you felt like you could breathe for the first time in weeks.

Lando shifted slightly beside you, his arm tightening around your shoulder instinctively. “Are you alright?” He murmurs, breath warm against your ear. While your eyes hadn’t left the screen the entire time the video had played, Lando had been preoccupied with watching you. Every flicker of your eyebrow, every tug of a smile, he watched and noted everything. The way your face fell when the screenshots started playing. The way you closed your eyes for the last thirty seconds of the video, choosing not to read the worst of the messages where Allegra had demanded Lando break up with you.

Everything. He was so glad you had decided to post everything and so glad that he was with you tonight as you both saw the views start to come in. Normally, you teased the hell out of a new video, told your followers on all platforms to expect a drop. This video had been a total surprise and it took a few moments for the post to gain traction, but both of you were sure that once it did, things for Allegra would be over.

“Yeah.” You whisper, turning to look at him for the first time since you pressed play. “Relieved mostly. I’m glad that’s over.”

Lando nods, his fingers tracing lazy patters on your back and you lean into his warmth. “Me too. It’s been…a lot.” He confesses before dropping his head onto your shoulder.

“I feel like I haven’t slept properly in weeks.” You whisper, the relief in your chest so profound you almost find it hard to breathe.

“Then lets fix that.” He says, voice thick with affection. He scoots his body so he’s laying with his head on the hotel pillow before he tugs you down with him. “Let’s just get some rest, okay?”

You don’t say anything in response, instead letting him pull you down so you’re tucked into the crook of his arm. He smells so good, fresh out of the shower that you drag in a deep inhale before allowing your eyes to flutter closed. The silence that blankets the room isn’t suffocating or oppressive, it’s peaceful and quiet, gentle and full of relief. No more threats, no more accusations, no more lies. Nothing. Allegra was finally taken care of and you felt like you and Lando could finally get your happy ending that you’d been waiting for since the moment he slid into your DMs.

Lando kisses your forehead, a soft, lingering touch that has your breath stuttering out of you. “Love you.” He says without removing his lips from your skin.

“I love you too.” You reply, voice raspy with emotion as your breath evens out and you tumble head first into a restful night's sleep.

yourusername posted

1,302,918 likes liked by lando, yourmother, mclaren and others yourusername little vacay vlog just posted. you'll want to stay til the end. ;) lando had the best time with you baby <3 >>>user999 boyfriend lando is the best lando >>>user544 the way he surprised her in the airport! The way he looked at her when she snuggled into him on the hammock! The way she looked at him during the GRWM! My heart. user992 I KNEW SHE WAS GONNA BE MESSY. user100 where are all the allegra apologists now? WE WANT AN APOLOGY. >>>user019 seriously. those texts? UNHINGED user010 all together now, 'WE'RE SORRY MOM AND DAD' user235 the way Lando looked at her the entire vlog? omg >>>user555 those two are end game and you can't change my mind user399 can confidently say I was always #teamyourname user000 @/its_allegra_babes is awfully quiet now... >>>user333 probs on the phone with her attorney

Tag List: @shelbyteller, @martygraciesversion381, @samantha-chicago, @stelena-klayley @dark-night-sky-99 @luckylampzonkland, @aykxz98 @forensicheart @cheer-bear-go-vroom @lieutenantchaos @willowsnook @linnygirl09 @meglouise00 @mixedstyles @secret-agents-stole-my-bunnies @mrosales16 @charlesgirl16 @leclercdream @daemyratwst @dramaticpiratellamas @mochimommy2002 @llando4norris @iamaunknownsecret @maxivstappen @a1leexxa @littlegrapejuice @sunflowervol18 @freyathehuntress @finn-dot-com @swiftie-4-lifes-stuff @chirasama @lauralarsen @dr3wstarkey @saskiaalonso @rbv3rstappen @ilovechickenwings @guaaafiiburg @mcmuppet @mindless-rock @piastri-fvx @mel164 @schumi-angel @myescapefromthislife @supertrashbread @sunny44 @tinystudentblaze-stuff @sarx164 @xoxomansee

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justinspoliticalcorner · 11 months ago

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Matt Gertz at MMFA:

Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance is using a right-wing media tour to clean up the firestorm over his remark that the country is run by “childless cat ladies” who “don't really have a direct stake” in its future. It isn’t going well. [...]

Mimicking Carlson’s cruel affect, weird obsessions, and unhinged misogyny helped Vance win support for his Senate campaign from the Fox star and his viewers, and he made similar comments to other right-wing audiences at the time. But the Carlson clip resurfaced after Vance became former President Donald Trump’s running mate, exposing his message to the broader public and triggering a wave of revulsion. Vance’s attempts to curtail the political damage — through even more interviews with pro-Trump pundits — are further exposing the dangers of his reliance on the right-wing bubble.

Vance’s first try at rebutting his critics, on former Fox host Megyn Kelly’s streaming show, was a debacle. He claimed to have been making a “a sarcastic comment,” joking that he has “nothing against cats,” as if that had been the real concern with his remark. And he lashed out at the actress Jennifer Aniston, who has publicly discussed her struggles with fertility and criticized Vance’s “childless cat ladies” comment, calling her response “disgusting.” Attacking celebrities plays well within the right-wing bubble, where cultural resentment makes for great content. But outside of it, politicians who don’t wish to cultivate reputations as off-putting weirdos generally try to avoid generating headlines about their feuds with a star of Friends. The Trump campaign apparently recognized that Vance’s Kelly interview had failed to stop the bleeding because he took another shot at it with a Sunday night appearance on former GOP congressman Trey Gowdy’s Fox show. But Gowdy wouldn’t defend Vance’s remark; he led into the interview by pointing out that Catholic nuns don’t have children but “love this country, living lives of service to others,” and declared that “some of the finest people I know don’t have children.”

[...] But that’s not what Vance said. He told Carlson that “the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children” and that it does not “make any sense that we've turned our country over to people who don't really have a direct stake in it.” He did not offer any rhetorical carve-outs for those who might wish to have children but struggle to find a partner, or with fertility, or with the adoption system. And he included Harris, who has two stepchildren, among the “childless cat ladies” who he claimed lack “a direct stake” in the country. Since it’s not politically viable to defend what he actually said, Vance is pretending that he was making a critique of Democrats over “anti-child” policies. But because that’s not true, he has to make up Democratic positions to get mad about.

Trump VP pick J.D. Vance is going on a right-wing media tour to clean up his disastrous “childless cat ladies” comments he made back in 2021.

#J.D. Vance #Megyn Kelly #Trey Gowdy #Tucker Carlson #Tucker Carlson Tonight #The Megyn Kelly Show #Sunday Night In America #Kamala Harris

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jojosbizarresecondlife · 1 year ago

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Considering trying second life sometimes, any advice?

I should make a more formal write-up (and my pals and I are thinking of compiling a little informal zine about sl) but some basic advice is

- do not use the default second life viewer (my friends use Firestorm or Alchemy)

- when you block people, you will also have to derender if you want them completely out of your sight or else they will still show up as a grey mass on your screen

- turn off your viewing crosshair (it’s this crosshair that shows where your avatar is looking and people get MAD if you’re “staring”)

- there is a LOT of sex/kink stuff on second life. That just comes with the game at this point because there are not many general rated sims so if that kind of thing makes you uncomfortable then you may not want to play this game

- If you want a fancy avatar or items you will need real money for it (a lot of the items/avatars we have are either custom made or costed real money)

- this game is super old and clunky so don’t get discouraged if you can’t get the hang of it in one session. It’s also super bloated and laggy even if you have the best setup in the world

- oh this one is super important and just a general warning (may not apply to you anon) but I’d highly recommend you be at least 21 before you play because there is stuff I don’t think fresh young adults are properly equipped to handle on Second Life (the open sex/kink stuff + people WILL solicit you for sex)

That’s all I can think of right now but if you have more questions, you can probably ask @lostcryptids, @figcookie01, or @icarianarts for more in-depth or topic specific advice.

If you end up making an account, I’m sure we’d be happy to help you in-game with setting up and whatnot!!

#second life #text #ask

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black-arcana · 7 months ago

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SPIRITBOX Announces New Album 'Tsunami Sea'

Two-time Grammy-nominated progressive heavy metal band SPIRITBOX is gearing up for its next chapter with the announcement of its sophomore album, "Tsunami Sea", set for release on March 7, 2025 via Pale Chord in partnership with Rise Records. The album was produced by Dan Braunstein and Mike Stringer, mixed by Zakk Cervini and mastered by Ted Jensen. In tandem with the news, the band has dropped their latest single, "Perfect Soul", alongside another one of their signature visually captivating music videos shot and directed by Dylan Hryciuk at Versa Films.

"Perfect Soul" offers a glimpse into the album's melodic sound, balancing riffs and groove with ethereal atmospheres to create a listening experience that pulls listeners in like an incoming tide. The track's haunting video, set in an abandoned oceanside hospital, follows an angelic Courtney LaPlante as she searches the afterlife, surrounded by ghostly figures and a grotesque, barnacle-covered creature. Interwoven with scenes of the band performing in decaying rooms, the visuals capture the song's dark, poetic essence, drawing viewers further into SPIRITBOX's evolving world.

The new single follows the band's initial release from the album, "Soft Spine", which received praise for its crushing intensity. Alt Press called it "relentlessly heavy," and Revolver described it as "a hella-bruising bangabout." These two releases demonstrate the band's commitment to pushing their sound in new directions while staying anchored to their metal roots.

SPIRITBOX has capped off a landmark year with their second Grammy nomination for "Best Metal Performance" for the 2025 awards, this time for their powerhouse track "Cellar Door", cementing their status as a driving force in modern metal. Adding to this momentum, in October SPIRITBOX reunited with hip-hop icon Megan Thee Stallion for her "Megan: Act II" deluxe album, adding their distinct edge to the song "Tyg".

Their ability to transcend genres has only amplified their reach, marking major milestones along the way. Joining KORN on their 30th-anniversary tour, SPIRITBOX hit a career high, bringing their explosive live show to packed arenas across the world. During the tour, they took the stage at Louder Than Life festival, where buzzworthy guest appearances from Poppy, Tati Shmayluk of JINJER, and Sam Carter of ARCHITECTS amplified an already unforgettable set.

As 2024 winds down, SPIRITBOX will join BRING ME THE HORIZON for stadium shows in Brazil and Mexico City, before embarking on their European headline tour in 2025. They've also been announced as support for LINKIN PARK's awaited world tour, joining them for performances in Italy, Netherlands and the U.K. With high-impact live shows and an ambitious new project on the horizon, the next chapter for SPIRITBOX promises to be their most thrilling yet.

"Tsunami Sea" track listing:

01. Fata Morgana 02. Black Rainbow 03. Perfect Soul 04. Keep Sweet 05. Soft Spine 06. Tsunami Sea 07. A Haven With Two Faces 08. No Loss, No Love 09. Crystal Roses 10. Ride The Wave 11. Deep End

For many artists, a meteoric rise can often mean a sudden plateau. However, for Grammy-nominated progressive heavy metal mainstays SPIRITBOX, there appears to be no end in sight on their near-constant ascent to the top. Formed in 2017 in the picturesque-yet-isolated region of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, by vocalist Courtney Laplante and guitarist Mike Stringer, SPIRITBOX would fully cement themselves as a household name in the summer of 2020 with the release of their blistering breakout single "Holy Roller", along with a host of other captivating singles shortly after, resulting in a media firestorm of hype.

With new and existing fans eagerly watching their next move, SPIRITBOX exceeded every expectation imaginable in 2021 with the release of their genre-defining debut studio album "Eternal Blue" via Pale Chord/Rise Records. "Eternal Blue", which debuted at No. 13 on the Billboard 200, kicked open the doors of the heavy metal scene and rewrote the genre's playbook with 12 stunning tracks that incorporated everything from djent and post-metal to infectious synth-laden pop sensibilities and cinematic arrangements, brought fully to life by the inimitable Laplante's ethereal and commanding vocal performances.

The album cycle for "Eternal Blue" saw SPIRITBOX not only grace the covers of esteemed music publications such as Revolver, Alternative Press, Rock Sound and Kerrang!, among many others but would also solidify the band as one of the most in-demand groups in live music today with their one-hundred percent sold out, first-ever headlining tour in support of the album which saw ticket sales over 40,000. The band would also share the stage with seasoned metal veterans such as LIMP BIZKIT and GHOST and win "Best International Breakthrough Band" at the 2021 Heavy Music Awards.

In 2022, SPIRITBOX secured highly-coveted spots at numerous major U.S. rock and metal festivals and were nominated for two Juno awards, respectively. SPIRITBOX would also round out their current lineup with the inclusion of drummer Zev Rose and bassist Josh Gilbert in addition to releasing their sonically experimental EP "Rotoscope" in June of that year as well as a cross-genre collaboration with dubstep artist Illenium for the track "Shivering".

During another whirlwind year for the band, including a U.S. tour with SHINEDOWN and PAPA ROACH, SPIRITBOX wrote and recorded their critically acclaimed EP "The Fear Of Fear", released in November 2023. The EP features the single "Jaded", which was nominated for "Best Metal Performance" at the 66th annual Grammy Awards. In the same month, the band would make another genre-bending splash with a high-profile collaboration with rapper Megan Thee Stallion for a remix of her song "Cobra".

Photo credit: Jonathan Weiner

#spiritbox #tsunami sea #news

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tarotofbadkitties · 1 year ago

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I'm like a dog with a bone with this Lily thing. The more I think about it, the more I feel like hints were dropped that both suggest Patrick is (probably) the father, but also that Tashi and Art know this. Having Lily ask to watch "Spiderman: Enter the Spider-verse" serves to let the viewer know she's on the older end of whatever age we might guess she is, since the target demo for that movie is 8-year-old kids. They also clarify that Lily isn't already born and upstairs in the hotel room with Art in the flashback both by the choice to show Tashi has an engagement ring as opposed to a wedding ring, but also by having Art come down to meet up with Tashi. Art wouldn't have left a baby or toddler alone in a hotel room to join Tashi at a bar/restaurant.

The first scene we see with Patrick, he's trying to talk the hotel-owner into letting him stay a night for free. The way he tries being seductive and cycles through excuses suggest this is not an unusual way of transacting business for him. He sleeps in his car when he fails, then winds up swiping everyone on Tinder in a last-resort effort to find somewhere to sleep, but it's made pretty clear Patrick is usually living in hotels, not sleeping in his car. The amount of a disaster he is on the date with the real estate lawyer suggests he doesn't do that on a regular basis to find somewhere to sleep either. Isn't it interesting that we have Lily say she likes hotels, after establishing Patrick basically lives in them?

Lily also comes up three times in conversation between Tashi and Patrick. First, when Tashi mentions her in passing and Patrick asks who Lily is, and she says "our daughter." The second time, Patrick mentions her in passing, but pretends to forget her name and annoys Tashi. The third time, with the milf joke, Tashi starts totally melting down. Patrick is understandably bewildered why a little joke about her being a hot mom caused such a firestorm, but maybe the real reason is to call the viewer's attention to the fact that it's Patrick talking about her being a mother that causes what is arguably the climactic moment in the movie. Tashi has a tendency to mirror Patrick's honesty and say too much when she's with him, and if she's trying to keep his fatherhood a secret, it makes sense she would literally take off running when it comes up in conversation for fear she instinctively tells him the truth.

#lily donaldson #challengers

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mariacallous · 1 year ago

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When a new episode of AMC’s Interview With the Vampire aired the Sunday before last, a particular sort of fuse was lit in online conversations around the show. The fifth installment of the second season, “Don’t Be Afraid, Just Start the Tape,” was an impeccably written and acted horror film in miniature—the sort of thing you watch with your mouth hanging open, before pointing at your TV and saying, “Are you seeing this, too?!?!”

Yet when thousands took to social media to ask that very question, much of the commentary was underscored by confusion, even concern, that people were, in fact, not seeing it, too—that they weren’t seeing Interview With the Vampire at all. For a show so good, many said, it was criminal that more people weren’t watching and discussing it, and that more critics weren’t covering it. “This is the best show on TV right now,” New York Times culture reporter Kyle Buchanan wrote in one widely shared tweet. “I feel gaslit that you’d all rather talk about mid or bad shows rather than watch the golden standard!”

Some fans had already noticed the diminished critical coverage compared to the first season, which was met with near-universal acclaim and earned the show and the performances of its lead actors, Jacob Anderson and Sam Reid, places on many end-of-year best-of lists. If anything, the show’s sophomore season had received an even higher percentage of glowing reviews, but the big splashy event coverage that other lauded shows often receive (and are receiving as we speak) was absent from notable mainstream outlets.

Plugged-in fans had also noticed a drop in viewership from the first season, at least according to publicly available metrics, and in advance of the June 9 episode, Slate published an article titled, “Interview With the Vampire Is the Best Show Almost Nobody Is Watching,” which laid out the those numbers plainly. Word started to spread—especially on up-to-the-minute platforms like X but also fanning out to places like Reddit, TikTok, and even my home base, Tumblr, which is far more likely to host gifsets, shitposts, or graduate-seminar-level analyses of the show than discussions of terrestrial television ratings.

AMC had announced IWTV’s second season before the first even aired, but halfway through the second there hadn’t been a peep about a third—and with a narrative brewing about “the best show nobody’s watching,” especially in the wake of an episode that so many were raving over, fan anxiety started to ratchet up about its fate. On X in particular, that groundswell quickly started to focus on AMC’s marketing efforts—and fans’ accusations that the network wasn’t doing enough to promote its own show set off a firestorm that brewed for days. “The marketing choices AMC is doing with Interview With the Vampire is self destructive,” one fan wrote. Or, in the words of another: “So mad they got me googling who is head of marketing at AMC.”

There can be a huge range of reasons why a show in 2024—this one or any other—doesn’t have the reach it deserves; endless pixels have been spilled on streamer fatigue and fractured audiences in the past few years. AMC, a darling of the prestige-TV-on-cable era, is in an especially strange position: Even when Interview’s first season was a hit on its streaming service, AMC+, it was still held up as an example of a troubled industry in transition. Two years and two Hollywood strikes later, the situation is even more complicated. As the industry restructures and changes who can watch what where, a disconnect has emerged between what viewers like and what critics do. At the same time, social media platforms—the loci of 21st-century word of mouth—continue to implode, fracturing the conversation of an already dispersed audience.

Amidst this, IWTV faces specific hurdles due to the nature of the show. An adaptation of Anne Rice’s 1976 novel that pulls heavily from the many Vampire Chronicles books that followed, the show racebends many of its leads—its titular vampire, Louis du Pointe du Lac, is now Black—and goes all in on the queerness of the books. And it is, of course, about vampires—specifically, vampires who do terrible things. “IWTV has so much that a modern audience could want from a series but, unfortunately, some people won’t receive it solely because it’s a queer horror show with majority BIPOC leads,” says Bobbi Miller, a culture critic who recaps the show on her YouTube channel. “Genre TV is always going to have to jump through more hoops for success than a standard drama.”

For the converted, the idea that more people aren’t watching Interview is maddening. One could certainly argue that the show, with its dark, twisted Gothicness and emotional maximalism, isn’t for everyone. But in an era of unceremonious cancellations—even of shows that execs touted as hits—and with an absence of information about the show’s future, it’s understandable that its most dedicated fans would be pushing for more viewers. Interview isn’t the only show whose fans question its marketing efforts; it’s a common accusation leveled at streamers of all sorts, especially when a show is canceled. But in this conversation, Interview fans pointed at specific decisions made by the network that many feel have made this season’s rollout feel so much more muted than the last.

“It’s been a conversation that fans have been talking about for a while now, but I think what really set them off was the comment made by Film Updates,” says Rei Gorrei, a fan who dubs herself the “Unofficial Vampire Chronicles Spokesperson.” A pop-culture aggregation account with nearly a million followers, Film Updates revealed they had been denied interview requests with the show’s talent—and since fans were worried no one was hearing about IWTV, they couldn’t understand why that reach wasn’t being capitalized on. “I think the combination of these things along with little marketing leaves fans in a word-of-mouth scenario where we now feel like it’s up to us to campaign for the season three renewal,” Gorrei says.

Many questioned the promotion the network had been implementing, too, like the decision to never have Anderson and Assad Zaman, whose characters’ romance is one of the main focuses of the season, interviewed together. Episode five in particular, with its explosive fight scene between the two, would have been a prime opportunity. (AMC did not respond to emails seeking comment for this story.) Other fans raised concerns about the unceremonious cancelation of the widely admired official podcast, whose Black female host, Naomi Ekperigin, felt like the perfect interviewer for a show with Black leads and nuanced racial storylines. Then there was the fact that too few episodes would air in time for Emmy consideration—not the fault of marketing, but yet one more source of fan worry.

As the conversation directed at the official X account got heated, the AMC social team replied, sparking a dust-up that evoked the heady days of mid-2010s Twitter fandom, which regularly saw official accounts (remember Teen Wolf?) doing battle with—and sometimes capitalizing on the rancor of—contentious fans.

To be clear, AMC’s team did not engage the way those accounts once did—they instead wound up spinning it as a joke, poking fun at itself with a series of memes riffing on a line from the latest episode. But some fans continued to make comments about wanting to “take away” the show from the network, invoking one of the common paradoxes of modern fandom, where fans seek to divorce the thing they love by from the thing they think is harming it, like a showrunner, a director, or a network (the people who are, of course, the reason the thing they love exists).

“It is complicated,” says Bobbi Miller. She understands both sides of the equation: She's a fan, but she has also worked on social campaigns for film and TV. “I do think some of what the fans want from social [media] for this show is not always realistic.” Based on her experience, she says it’s likely that posts are part of a specific plan with approval processes—and it’s usually done by a whole team, not some lone intern as people on social media always suggest. “Not to mention that some things,” she adds, “especially ones that involve talent directly, aren’t always possible.” And in the flurry of conversation about the show’s promotion, many fans did acknowledge this—suggesting the social team was being stymied by the network itself.

Even with her sympathetic eye, Miller has also been confused by some of the decisions—though she stresses it’s all still a part of this balancing act. “Ultimately, no one’s ever going to be happy with the social coverage of the show because the objectives of a social campaign for a series are different than the objectives of the fandom,” she says. “I do want the show to get the major social and promotional push that it deserves and I’m not totally sure why that hasn’t happened, but I hope the network is taking note that the audience does want to see this show and its cast everywhere.”

That sort of symbiotic relationship between marketing and fans—where acolytes essentially act as ambassadors for their thing—is a thorny part of the fan labor conversation. But while some of Interview’s devotees worry that there’s too heavy a reliance on word-of-mouth, a lot of fans are still spreading the word—some even treat it like a full-time job. A lifelong Vampire Chronicles fan, Gorrei had watched AMC’s struggles with The Walking Dead fanbase and some of its smaller franchises, and decided to do whatever she could to help IWTV succeed. “I had basically made my own personal marketing strategy for this show,” she says.

But even the most enthusiastic evangelists don’t actually work for the shows they love—and the entire push and pull of this situation underscores one of the biggest things plaguing television fandoms in 2024. Amidst the chaos of the industry and without the transparent signals of earlier eras like ratings or the seasonal calendar, fans don’t know the levers they need to pull to try to keep their favorite thing on the air—and sometimes, there aren’t any levers to pull at all. Long gone are the Bjo Trimble letter-writing campaigns of yore.

The broader atmosphere is one of fear and panic: After a decade of having the streamer rugs pulled out from under them, fans—and audiences more broadly—are afraid of getting invested in a show. Once invested, they’re always waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Despite all the furor at the start of last week, fans did get some strong signs of hope by the end of it. While there still hasn’t been word that the show will be picked up for a third season, showrunner Rolin Jones re-upped a multiyear contract with the network on Friday. The next day, AMC announced a deal with Netflix to offer several of their titles on the streamer, Interview included. The show has always been framed as tentpole of a broader interconnected universe based on Anne Rice’s work, and despite the mixed signals of the past few weeks, it also seems like AMC is still all-in on that bet—the network also recently greenlit a third series based in the “Immortal Universe,” alongside The Mayfair Witches.

Miller agrees that these signals are very encouraging—and notes that AMC is famous for giving high-quality shows it believes in multiple seasons to find audience footing (see the eventual popularity of Breaking Bad or the continued renewal of Halt and Catch Fire—notably both projects of IWTV’s executive producer, Mark Johnson). And these sorts of investments go hand-in-hand with the dedication and commitment of long-term fans. “IWTV’s greatest allies,” Miller says, “are a dedicated fan base and a network that seems committed to giving the series time to blossom,” Miller says.

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dertaglichedan · 6 months ago

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Allstate Deletes Social Media Post of CEO’s Controversial Sugar Bowl Message After Severe Backlash

Allstate, the sponsor of Thursday’s Sugar Bowl contest between Notre Dame and Georgia, appears to have deleted CEO Tom Wilson’s post-terror attack message, which aired before the game and ignited a firestorm of controversy online.

Just before the start of the game, Wilson delivered a video statement in which he suggested Americans have an “addiction to divisiveness” and need to “accept people’s imperfections and differences.”

“Our prayers went to victims and their families,” Wilson told viewers. “We also need to be stronger together by overcoming an addiction to divisiveness and negativity. Join Allstate working in local communities all across America to amplify the positive, increase trust and accept people’s imperfections and differences. Together we win.”

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evwuniverse · 6 months ago

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Second Life Browser Beta - A New Forward Advancement For Second Life

You know as do all of us bloggers who are influencers in one way or another for Second Life we come across things in our travel. I followed Second Life's official Tumblr page and noticed that they had just released their browser version of Second Life to try. This is still new technology and in development but this might be a game changer for those who don't have strong laptops to run third-party viewers or don't have a whole lot of space on their laptops for one reason or another. I decided to give it a try tonight and here is my experience.

Honestly Not Bad:

To be fair, I was expecting it to be a lot worse than it truly is, with lots of lag and horrible frame rates that would make Second Life pretty much unusable. But honestly, for a browser version the frame rates weren't horrible if you're not used to being close to perfect with a gaming PC. I was getting between 29-52 frames per second in the MadPea sim this evening when I logged in. Because MadPea is where I logged out from last time after my MadPea post.

Mesh Load Times:

The loading times for mesh objects were really quick, it loaded a whole store fully in about 3 minutes maybe a little less. This was shocking to me because there were a lot of scripts and objects in this area. Even when I participated in a MadPea unlimited gaming sim with HUD everything loaded really quickly. This was amazing to see.

Browser Viewer Only Good For 10 Minutes:

Because the browser version is still in its experimental phase you're only allowed to use it for 10 minutes at a time, this I'm assuming is because streaming a virtual platform like this on a browser is I'm sure very costly. Sadly, it's only 10 minutes because I really enjoyed the experience for the 10 minutes I was on it before being kicked out. It's also nice when it comes to my multi-tasking because all I had to do was switch tabs to write this post and go back to the browser viewer. This made things a lot easier than minimizing the actual Firestorm Viewer and making it larger every time I needed to be in the world while typing. I can see this as being a great option for Second Life users as Second Life continues to work on perfecting this. It will never be perfect but this is going to be a great step forward.

The Main Cons I have:

The major problem which somewhat hinders my experience, is I love taking photos from inside of Second Life. To open up certain things like camera controls, people, maps, etc you have to scroll down and then scroll back up. Not everything fits on the screen and this can get a little annoying, especially when a lot of the time you need those tabs accessible while using Second Life. At least for me, this is something I need for a positive experience, scrolling is not ideal. I like everything in one place right in front of me. Attempting to pull of my conversations is a struggle because I don't like keeping the chat box on my screen unless I'm using it to communicate with others.

There's also another odd thing that happened before logging out. I was testing the viewpoints on the camera and for some reason, I no longer had the ability at that point to move my avatar and only move the camera controls which is kind of a weird bug to have. During this time, I went into Mouselook, DO NOT GO INTO MOUSELOOK only if you don't want to crash completely before the 10 minutes are up my CMD command center for my computer came up and the browser viewer went black. Definitely not ideal but this was only when I entered mouselook mode.

In The End:

I can see the browser-based version of Second Life being a huge step forward for this virtual platform/world. As you know virtual worlds like Roblox and IMVU have browser-based versions of their virtual worlds and this is helpful for users who can't download a viewer or want more of an ability to multi-task and not use too many computer resources. I really think that this is going to change the way users interact within Second Life. Overall this was a positive experience. I was expecting some bugs as this is not perfected and is still in beta, but honestly, there weren't as many issues as I thought there would be for something so new for the community to try and experience. As someone who did backend coding at one point, I can easily say that this is on the right track to bringing Second Life up to speed with other virtual worlds that have been browser and mobile-based for some time along with their downloadable viewers. We are coming into a world where technology is advancing now more than ever and this is really exciting to see. I can't wait to see the advancements of the browser platform as 2025 continues forward.

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zohaislands · 1 year ago

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Moving From JIRA

Moving From Jira, Pt. 1 Entry posted by Linden Lab in News Friday at 11:08 AM 5,067 views This is the first installment of a series of posts on moving Second Life issues from Jira to a new community engagement portal, feedback.secondlife.com as well as Github Issues. jira.secondlife.com is Second Life’s venerable bug reporting repository, development tracker and feature request system. It…

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#Firestorm #firestorm viewer #Linden Lab #Linden Labs #LL #Project Viewer #Second Life #SL viewer #Virtual Reality #Virtual Worlds #VR #ZoHa Islands #ZoHa Islands blog

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dreaminginthedeepsouth · 1 year ago

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Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal Constitution

* * * *

Why Ronna McDaniel’s hiring and “firing” by NBC matters.

March 25, 2024

ROBERT B. HUBBELL

Opening thoughts

In the span of 72 hours, NBC announced the hiring and partial “firing” of former Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel. McDaniel’s hiring sparked a firestorm of protest within NBC internally and by viewers of MSNBC and NBC that caused the network’s executive to announce that she would not appear “on air” on the MSNBC cable network. (As of Sunday evening, it appears she will continue to appear on NBC as a political contributor.)

NBC’s decision to hire McDaniel was deeply troubling on many levels. The backlash by viewers and journalists at MSNBC and NBC was instructive and encouraging. But this story also serves as a morality tale for the challenges we will face in the next seven months as the media and pundits normalize and dismiss the attempted coup and insurrection.

Indeed, the hiring and partial retraction of McDaniel’s employment occurred amidst a renewed round of handwringing by pundits and consultants who are freaking out about the possibility of Biden losing in November. That fear is rooted in a stubborn refusal to acknowledge the stakes of the 2024 election and an obsessive compulsion with “favorability ratings.”

It’s a good thing none of those pundits or consultants were in charge of the Continental Army during the American Revolution when George Washington’s battlefield record was six victories, seven losses, and four draws. The modern-day pundits would have surrendered after the first loss, and America would be a colony of the United Kingdom today.

We will be forced to endure a constant barrage of defeatism from the political class in the months to come. Why? They are reserving their pre-emptive “I told you so” rights so that if things turn out badly, they can claim to be geniuses. If Biden wins, no one will remember or hold them accountable for their defeatism. For the pundits, it’s a “Heads I win, tails you lose” proposition.

So, let’s burst the “I am a genius” balloons of the pundits now. The 2024 presidential election will be a close race. It takes no great skill or insight to wring your hands and say you have a bad feeling about the election. At this point, pundits and prognosticators are dead weight, holding back those of us who refuse to retreat at the first hint of trouble.

Most of the analysis by the self-proclaimed experts is incredibly superficial—about a quarter inch deep. For example, a reader sent me an “economic outlook” from the large Wall Street bank managing her retirement account. The Wall Street bank said that the markets are beginning to anticipate a Trump victory because Biden’s unfavorability ratings remain high.

The reader’s retirement advisers apparently do not understand that Americans actually vote for president and that elections are not determined by “favorability ratings.” Voters are not securities traded in an efficient market. They are people motivated by a multitude of factors.

The investment advisers do not appear to believe that women (or men) care about having their reproductive liberty controlled by religious zealots, allowing weapons of war to be carried in public without a permit, rolling back climate protections after the hottest year on record, disenfranchising Black voters, denying equal dignity to LGBTQ people, or allowing Americans to choose their leaders.

Nor do the investment advisers appear to be concerned that one of the candidates for president has 91 felony indictments, will sit through one criminal trial before the election, has promised to be a dictator, is threatening to blow up the strongest military alliance in the world, and appears (again) to be supported by Russia in his bid for the presidency.

We are in uncharted waters. Old maps do not apply. But pundits, pollsters, and Wall Street gurus insist on looking back to templates and spreadsheets that applied in “normal” times.

We are living through an exceptional moment in which we can make our own rules. Recognizing that fact and having the audacity to break “the old rules” to create a new template for success is critical to controlling the outcome of the 2024 election. Don’t allow yourself to be weighed down by consultants re-litigating the 1992, 2000, 2008, or 2016 elections.

I could go on, but you get the point. We control our destiny—but only if we ignore people who tell us we are sheep, shares of stock, or widgets. We are not. We are Americans wielding the awesome power granted us by the Constitution.

But how is Ronna McDaniel’s hiring and firing related to the shortsighted defeatism of the consulting class? Read on!

Rona McDaniel’s hiring illustrates the normalization of the insurrection and coup among the media and political class.

There is a direct line between normalizing the coup and panicking about Biden’s prospects in 2024. Hear me out.

Ronna McDaniel was aware of the fake elector's plot in real-time and did nothing to stop the attempted coup. Worse, she participated in a call to pressure local elections officials in Michigan to refuse to certify election results based on non-existent fraud. When the media reported on her participation in the election interference plot, she accused MSNBC of ‘spreading lies’ and employing ‘prime time propagandists.’” She repeatedly claimed that the 2020 election was “rigged.”

Regardless of whether Ronna McDaniel has criminal liability for the attempted coup, she cheered loudly for its success and smeared journalists who spoke the truth about the first-ever effort to prevent the peaceful transfer of power. That alone should ban her for life from any role at a legitimate news platform.

It is reprehensible that Comcast / NBC would hire Ronna McDaniel as a political consultant after her election denialism and active involvement in at least one overt act to overturn the Constitution. And yet, dozens of executives at NBC apparently view the attempted coup as part of the game of hardball election politics. They are ready to forgive and forget despite the lack of accountability for Trump and his advisers—including members of the RNC.

By reducing the attempted coup and insurrection to mere “partisan politics,” NBC is misleading the American people about the stakes in 2024 by denying the reality of what happened in 2020. And if you ignore the stakes, if you ignore the unprecedented nature of the 2024 election, then perhaps it isn’t unreasonable to say, “Well, in 1992, George H.W. Bush’s favorability ratings were X and he lost.” But Bill Clinton in 1992 isn’t Donald Trump in 2024. The world has forever changed because of the insurrection and the incipient fascism that is roiling beneath the surface.

We cannot allow NBC to continue in its misguided view of what is at stake in 2024. Read on!

The backlash against NBC was partially successful.

Hundreds of readers of this newsletter—and tens of thousands of Americans (an estimate) let NBC know that they strenuously objected to the presence of Ronna McDaniel on the network. Journalists at NBC and MSNBC also spoke out. The combined pressure worked—at least at MSNBC. See WaPo, Former RNC chair Ronna McDaniel faces sharp criticism after NBC hiring. (This article is accessible to all.)

According to WaPo, the president of MSNBC, Rashida Jones, sent an internal memo assuring MSNBC staff that Ronna McDaniel would not be forced on the hosts at MSNBC as an on-air contributor or commentator. Good! The pressure campaign worked.

But it is not enough.

McDaniel appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday and attempted to dismiss her previous election denialism by saying that as chair of the RNC she “had to take one for the team.” One reasonable interpretation of that statement could be, “I lied because I was paid to lie.”

Chuck Todd was part of an NBC panel that dissected McDaniel’s interview on Meet the Press by Kristen Welker. Chuck Todd said,

Our bosses owe you [Welker] an apology for putting you in this situation because I don’t know what to believe. . . . I have no idea whether any answer she gave to you was because she didn’t want to mess up her contract. There’s a reason why there’s a lot of journalists at NBC News uncomfortable with this, because many of our professional dealings with the RNC over the last six years have been met with gaslighting, have been met with character assassination.

Good for Chuck Todd! (Not usually on my list of “go to” sources.) Let’s hope he speaks for a substantial portion of the NBC News staff—and that NBC management is listening.

The deluge of comments from listeners had an immediate effect on the editorial and staffing decisions at MSNBC! There is a lesson in that for all of us! We can fight the normalization of the coup and insurrection. Indeed, we must! Otherwise, voters will be misinformed about the stakes of the 2024 election.

There is more to be done.

As of Sunday evening, Ronna McDaniel appears to remain at NBC as a “contributor.” Thanks to a reader (Susan O. S.) for identifying the executives at NBC who oversee the news function at the NBC network (not to be confused with the cable-based MSNBC). The email addresses are:

President, NBC: [email protected]

SVP of Politics: [email protected]

Keeping Ronna McDaniel “off the air” at a legitimate media outlet is imperative. She lied before she joined NBC and smeared NBC’s journalists for telling the truth. She participated in at least one act designed to overturn the election. She should not be trusted with any news platform that reaches persuadable voters—because we have no reason to believe that she will tell the truth going forward.

The stakes are simply too high, and the time is too short for NBC to “see what happens” if NBC “gives her chance.” McDaniel has proven who she is; we should believe her.

Let NBC know how you feel about its cynical willingness to play politics with our democracy.

[Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter]

#RNC corruption #NBC #MSNBC #political coverage #RNC Gaslighting #Robert B. Hubbell #Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter

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